A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since
antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes. They are usually worn on the
face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on the wearer's
body, so in parts of Australia giant totem masks cover the body, whilst Inuit women
use finger masks during storytelling and dancing.[1]
antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes. They are usually worn on the
face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on the wearer's
body, so in parts of Australia giant totem masks cover the body, whilst Inuit women
use finger masks during storytelling and dancing.[1]
History
The use of masks in rituals or ceremonies is a very ancient human practice
across the world,[5]
although masks can also be worn for protection, in hunting, in sports, in feasts
or in wars – or simply used as ornamentation.[6] Some
ceremonial or decorative masks were not designed to be worn. Although the
religious use of masks has waned, masks are used sometimes in drama therapy or
psychotherapy.[7]
Replica of the funeral mask of K'inich
Janaab' Pakal at the Museo Nacional de la Máscara in
Mexico
One of the challenges in anthropology is finding the precise derivation of
human culture and early activities, with the invention and use of the mask only
one area of unsolved inquiry. The use of masks dates back several millennia. It
is conjectured that the first masks may have generally been used by primitive
people to associate the wearer with some kind of unimpeachable authority, such
as "the gods" or to otherwise lend credence to the person's claim on a given
social role.
The oldest masks that have been discovered are 9,000 years old, being held by
the Musée "Bible et Terre Sainte" (Paris), and the Israel Museum (Jerusalem).[8] Most
probably the practice of masking is much older – the earliest known anthropomorphic artwork is circa 30,000–40,000
years old[9] – but
insofar as it involved the use of war-paint, leather, vegetative material or
wooden masks, the masks probably have not been preserved (they are visible only
in paleolithic cave drawings, of which dozens have
been preserved).[10] At
the neanderthal Roche-Cotard site in France a
flintstone likeness of a face was found which is about 35,000 years old, but it
is not clear that it was intended as a mask.[11]
In the Book of Genesis, one can read how Adam
and Eve used fig leaves to cover "their nakedness" after
eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.[12] "The
masquerade motif appears in the Bible on two different levels: an attempt to
fool people and an attempt to fool God."[13] What
shaped Judaic ritual was an "absolute prohibition against fashioning a statue or
a mask", originating with the Second Commandment.[14]
In the cult of Shiva, found in Anatolia from circa 6,000 BC, the young, naked
ithyphallic god appears in a horned mask.[15] In
the Greek bacchanalia and the Dionysus cult, which involved the use of masks,
the ordinary controls on behaviour were temporarily suspended, and people
cavorted in merry revelry outside their ordinary rank or status. René
Guénon claims that in the Roman saturnalia festivals, the ordinary roles were
often inverted. Sometimes a slave or a criminal was temporarily granted the
insignia and status of royalty, only to be killed after the festival ended.[16] The
Carnival of Venice, in which all are equal behind
their masks, dates back to 1268 AD.[17] The
use of carnivalesque masks in the Jewish Purim festivities probably originated in the late
15th century, although some Jewish authors claim it has always been part of
Judaic tradition.[18]
The North American Iroquois tribes used masks for healing purposes
(see False Face Society). In the Himalayas, masks functioned above all as
mediators of supernatural forces.[19] Yup'ik masks could be small three-inch finger
masks, but also ten-kilo masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several
people.[20] Masks
have been created with plastic surgery for mutilated soldiers.[21]
Masks in various forms (sacred, practical, or playful) have played a crucial
historical role in the development of understandings about "what it means to be
human", because they permit the imaginative experience of "what it is like" to
be transformed into a different identity (or to affirm an existing social or
spiritual identity).[22] Not
all cultures have known the use of masks, but most of them have.[23]
The use of masks in rituals or ceremonies is a very ancient human practice
across the world,[5]
although masks can also be worn for protection, in hunting, in sports, in feasts
or in wars – or simply used as ornamentation.[6] Some
ceremonial or decorative masks were not designed to be worn. Although the
religious use of masks has waned, masks are used sometimes in drama therapy or
psychotherapy.[7]
Replica of the funeral mask of K'inich
Janaab' Pakal at the Museo Nacional de la Máscara in
Mexico
One of the challenges in anthropology is finding the precise derivation of
human culture and early activities, with the invention and use of the mask only
one area of unsolved inquiry. The use of masks dates back several millennia. It
is conjectured that the first masks may have generally been used by primitive
people to associate the wearer with some kind of unimpeachable authority, such
as "the gods" or to otherwise lend credence to the person's claim on a given
social role.
The oldest masks that have been discovered are 9,000 years old, being held by
the Musée "Bible et Terre Sainte" (Paris), and the Israel Museum (Jerusalem).[8] Most
probably the practice of masking is much older – the earliest known anthropomorphic artwork is circa 30,000–40,000
years old[9] – but
insofar as it involved the use of war-paint, leather, vegetative material or
wooden masks, the masks probably have not been preserved (they are visible only
in paleolithic cave drawings, of which dozens have
been preserved).[10] At
the neanderthal Roche-Cotard site in France a
flintstone likeness of a face was found which is about 35,000 years old, but it
is not clear that it was intended as a mask.[11]
In the Book of Genesis, one can read how Adam
and Eve used fig leaves to cover "their nakedness" after
eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.[12] "The
masquerade motif appears in the Bible on two different levels: an attempt to
fool people and an attempt to fool God."[13] What
shaped Judaic ritual was an "absolute prohibition against fashioning a statue or
a mask", originating with the Second Commandment.[14]
In the cult of Shiva, found in Anatolia from circa 6,000 BC, the young, naked
ithyphallic god appears in a horned mask.[15] In
the Greek bacchanalia and the Dionysus cult, which involved the use of masks,
the ordinary controls on behaviour were temporarily suspended, and people
cavorted in merry revelry outside their ordinary rank or status. René
Guénon claims that in the Roman saturnalia festivals, the ordinary roles were
often inverted. Sometimes a slave or a criminal was temporarily granted the
insignia and status of royalty, only to be killed after the festival ended.[16] The
Carnival of Venice, in which all are equal behind
their masks, dates back to 1268 AD.[17] The
use of carnivalesque masks in the Jewish Purim festivities probably originated in the late
15th century, although some Jewish authors claim it has always been part of
Judaic tradition.[18]
The North American Iroquois tribes used masks for healing purposes
(see False Face Society). In the Himalayas, masks functioned above all as
mediators of supernatural forces.[19] Yup'ik masks could be small three-inch finger
masks, but also ten-kilo masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several
people.[20] Masks
have been created with plastic surgery for mutilated soldiers.[21]
Masks in various forms (sacred, practical, or playful) have played a crucial
historical role in the development of understandings about "what it means to be
human", because they permit the imaginative experience of "what it is like" to
be transformed into a different identity (or to affirm an existing social or
spiritual identity).[22] Not
all cultures have known the use of masks, but most of them have.[23]